Risk of financial loss increased from 1986 to 2010 for Coloradans and all Americans, according to a report released today by the Rockefeller Foundation and Yale University professor Jacob Hacker .

The report, called “Economic Insecurity Across the American States” said that nearly every state experienced record economic insecurity during 2008-2010.

But the report said the trend toward economic insecurity began long before the recent downturn.

“In other words, American households were becoming more vulnerable to large losses in income even before the Great Recession,” said the report.

The report said economic insecurity is “a worsening trend in America.”

Hacker and the Rockefeller Foundation used what they called the Economic Security Index (ESI) as a basis for the report. It tracks the proportion of Americans who see their “available household income” decline by 25 percent or more from one year to the next and who can’t replace the lost income.

The higher the number, the more economically insecure a state.

The ESI for Colorado rose by 30 percent between 1986 and 2010, reflecting the broader national decline in economic security over the last generation, said the report.

“While Colorado experienced lower levels of insecurity than the country as a whole, that does not mean it did well,” said Hacker, director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale.

“Even after the official end of the recession, nearly one in five (Colorado) residents experienced large economic losses in 2010, and economic insecurity is substantially greater in Colorado today than it was a generation ago.”

In 2010, roughly 698,000 Coloradans experienced a 25 percent drop or greater, compared with 383,000 in 1986, reflecting a rise in insecurity and a larger state population, said the study.

Hacker said that Colorado experienced a record level of insecurity in 2009 with ESI of 19.0 . The national average ESI peaked in 2009 with an ESI of 20.5 .

The report said that despite this, Colorado is more “economically secure” than the nation as a whole ranking 36th among states in terms of the average level of ESI from 2008-2010.

In other words, said the report, 13 states had lower levels of economic insecurity.

Hacker said that Colorado’s ESI may have been lower than the national average during the recession as a result of lower concentrations of individuals known to have high exposure to economic risk at the national level.

For example, he said, large losses are more prevalent among individuals who reside in a household headed by someone who has less than a college degree, is Black or Hispanic, or is a single parent.

The report found that Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Florida and Georgia have the highest levels of insecurity. New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Washington and Minnesota were ranked as the most economically secure.

The data also revealed that insecurity is higher among states in the South and West, and lower in the Midwest and Northeast.

Eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 were closed Saturday afternoon at Georgetown due to a semitrailer fire, the Colorado Department of Transportation tweeted. The right lane remains closed, while the other lanes have since reopened. Drivers can expect heavy delays, transportation officials said. The fire initially closed both sides of the interstate as smoked crossed the highway. The load on the...